Will Greece Defy the European Union and Turn Towards Russia?

by The Silver Bug Greece’s newly elected Syriza party has already begun to make waves in the European Union. Although it was widely known that the newly elected Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras harbors no love for the EU, he was not expected to act so quickly. In a recent statement, European Council president Donald Tusk made it known that the European Union intends on widening its already broad spectrum of sanctions it has placed on Russia. This is typically not a problem, as in the past, members of the EU have made no waves and typically have acted as one unified body. Well, that was before the newly elected Prime Minister of Greece and his anti EU party took office. This poses a serious concern for the unification of the European Union, as to act on measures, (measures that were very easily put through in the past) all 28 members of the EU need to unanimously approve. Therefore, one small country such as Greece can cause one big headache for the remaining members. Of further concern to the bureaucrats located in Brussel is Mr Kotzias, a politics professor, former communist and now Greece’s new foreign affairs minister. Minister Nikos Kotzias has the power to block and veto future sanctions attempting to be placed on Russia. This is incredibly likely, given that Kotzias has advocated for closer ties with Russia and has been incredibly critical of the growing influence Germany has within the European Union. These actions have not gone unnoticed by Putin and has garnered praise from Russian officials. The question is, if Kotzias and the Syriza party decide to side with Russia and subsequently then decide to veto any sanctions being placed on them, what then will the European Union do? How will they react to a defector within their ranks? Perhaps Greece’s newly elected Prime Minister Tsipras will get his wish sooner rather than later, but perhaps it won’t be on their own accord, perhaps the EU will decide to cut their losses and expel Greece from the union. This is unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility, it all demands on how far Greece’s new government is willing to take its rhetoric, and how much the remaining members of the EU are willing to put up with.